Are oysters farmed to produce pearls?

Answers

Indeed they are. Oysters are farmed both for their flesh (as food) and for pearl production. The exact procedure varies based on the goal. When farming pearls, thousands of oysters are artificially nucleated (given the “seed” necessary to start a pear growing, basically) and then taken care of for the several (2-5) years it takes for a pearl to develop inside. It’s not a perfectly successful process, but it does produce many more pearls than if left up to chance.